can't wait for the green flag. just a little after 2:00 today. of course, tune into abc at 1:00 p.m. for nascar countdown. coming up after our show, "nhra race day" from concord, north carolina. >> it's only two years old but has come of age. today the fight to the finish. the six-race countdown to the championship begins and it does so with emotion. both john force and tony pedregon showed how passionate this sport can be. this weekend the nhra heat continues to run hot. the pressure of the countdown and the fight for the wally as

nhra drivers and crew chiefs push the limits. by day's end, history will be made as both funny cars and top fuel go four-wide for the time ever. you've never experienced an nhra you've never experienced an nhra race day quite like this one. captioning provided by espn, inc. ♪ early in the morning pack the truck and get some food ♪ ♪ i'm going to win ♪ because this girl don't like to lose ♪ ♪ i'm going to drive it ♪ like i stole it ♪ going to leave it all behind ♪ going to drive to it like i stole it ♪

cruz pedregon may have miss the the countdown to the championship, but caught up in that emotion, he channels that to being the role of the spoiler in funny car. how can hector the hammer riding his buhl national wins. he's the number one qualifier in bikes. how about mike edwards? what kind of story can this be as he dominates pro stock once again. some of the stories we're following here in charleston, north carolina. how about the fans we got here today for "nhra race day" presented by lucas oil? they're excited to see what will happen today. some of the things we talk about on the worldwide web, apparently john force and tony pedregon had a little scuffle in the u.s. nationals. now doubt it will boil over here. how about the new qualifying

points shake-up system. it will shake up countdown in a big way. four-wide nitro racing right here. that's just one of the reasons all the fans are here as we welcome you to our "nhra race day" set presented by lucas oil. alongside mike dunn i'm dave rieff. how are you doing, north carolina? i think they're doing just fine. gary will be with us in a minute. we'll start by talking about the great state-of-the-art facility. this he gets me thinks, playoffs are coming. >> i'm absolutely excited coming off the indy battle between tone dwri and john force. that created a lot of excitement. everybody was sent back to the corners, but now it's time to come backswinging to get the full throttle championship by the end of the year. >> speaking of coming out swinging, did everyone see the drama in indy? john force and tony pedregon over the alleged throwing a race.

john force was plenty animated. tony pedregon was animated as well. that will kick off our lucas oil rapid fire segment. the key is we're talking about the countdown to the championship and moving forward. >> how have tony pedregon, john force, and cruz pedregon moved forward? >> they're all kind of sticking to their guns. they've toned down the rhetoric a little bit, but the bottom line is that passion we saw at the u.s. nationals will carry over into the battle for the championship in the next six races. if you think it's all done, you have another thing coming. it will boil over sometime during this series. i know about the fans, but i can't wait to see what happens. >> there's lines drawn in the sand back here as well. you'll see that in a little bit. we have bonus points and national records for the nitro categories. that's going to have a big effect on the countdown as well. zo >> absolutely. it was put in place to cut down on the testing. now it's time for the countdown. i don't think anybody was

planning on testing anyway. some of the unintended consequences helped out a guy like mike edwards dominating and qualifying all season long. at the end of the season you may look back and say they handed mike edwards another two or three rounds towards that full throttle championship. >> opinions back in the pits. the drivers have them as well. >> i think it really kind of lends itself to what the countdown is all about. getting as many points as you can, pushing it to the edge and not going over. i think with the chance of getting three points at that session, you know you have to go to the finish line. you can't step over that edge. i think it's a good thing. >> i don't like it. i mean, even if i was, you know, one of the front guys that was always number one and number two qualifier, i still don't think it's fair. we have a points situation anyway with the countdown, and, you know, let's just stick to what we've had the last two years and not change it. >> right now, you know, it's kind of thrown on us real quick, and now we have to make some

moves in qualifying we wouldn't have normally done and take chances to one faster and he get a few points because those points add up. >> have they added up. you mentioned mike edwards. take a look at gant he made just in qualifying. the number one qualifying spot, he gains 16 points on cog lynn. he can't like that. hector moved up as well. larry dixon actually lost a point to antron brown. so it's interesting to see how these points play out. speaking of antron brown, he's a good position to go after his first career championship. in this harley-davidson quarter-mile profile we look at the crew he hopes can get him to that championship. >> i'm antron brown driving the mac tools top fuel dragster, and this is my all-star team.

>> back in the pits the number one man in top fuel, our very own gary gerould. good morning to you, g-man. >> good morning dave, mike, and race fans. antron brown, what a season he's had. number one in points, five wins, but 130 points down to 30 when they restructuring for the countdown to one. do you feel like your safety net has been yanked out from underneath you? >> the safety net is gone, gary. mike and dave we attest to it,

too. that's what the countdown is about. it brings pure excitement. this is what we had to work to. it will be a little bit different strategy. every round is really crucial now, and we have six races. if you mess up, you could find yourself way in the back of the pack because everybody is bunched together. we'll do what we do. the matco tools car has been strong in year. we'll carry on sxr a great team. >> ice trying to bounce back from his only first round loss of the season a week ago. >> good timing to make that championship run. antron brown gained a point over the number one qualifier larry dixon. everything is super tight. now leads just by 31. let's talk about pro stock where jed cough lynn was the number one qualifier for the countdown. now he's number one, but there's the points we pointed out with mike edwards. it will take more than his driving ability to win the championship.

>> absolutely. he's struggled in qualifying pretty much all season long. he's driving it and the fact they hit the setup good and on crucial times on race day got them the points lead. they have to work on the qualifying combination and get that car on the game early. >> especially when we talk about the geico power sports match-up to watch. he has a pressure cooker right away, round number one. >> without a doubt. one and two into the race. they race each other in the first round. that is a big race. >> one and two coming into the points but one and three thanks to mike edwards and that big, big jump as jeg gives up a points leader. ron krisher and rickey jones. they move up one spot each as this countdown is starting to get warmed up. we'll talk with the number one man in the points as jeg coughlin loses ground. we'll check in with funny car's

consistent leader and one of the men involved in the controversy in indianapolis, tony pedregon. coming up next, a very special announcement courtesy of the lucass. they have exciting news when it comes to the sport of drag racing, and it's next on "nhra race day."

we have great fans here. welcome back to nhra race day. from the care lenas national, don't worry if you can't be part of the proud because we have you covered tonight on espn2. coverage concludes at 7:00 eastern tonight, three hours of coverage. the first race in the countdown to the championship. don't forget about top fuel and funny cars going four by four here at zmax dragway. let's check in now with gary

gerould standing by. >> you talk about great seasons, how about seven wins including victory at i understand namts for the u.s. nationals. with this new bonus points situation that comes into play for the countdown. it will seem it's playing into the hands of one of your competitors, mike edwards. is that a concern for you? >> i don't think it's a surprise of any sort. once nhra announced a new format and the new bonus practical, which is very exciting forl all the teams but certainly a couple of team favors and we're not one at this point. we're going to earn extra points down the stretch because the points are extremely important. mike is running extremely well, and that's what the program is design to do, and keeps the fans on their feet enjoying the show. job well-done. >> one of the biggest match-ups today is this man, jeg, going against jason line. >> emotion at charlotte in pro stock bike.

>> qualifying today. crew chief for matt hines took offense to what michael philip was doing on the start line. they took offense, and the battle of the worlds began. >> i wonder how it would affect matt smith later today. >> eddie krawiec and andrew hines, how will the harleys rebound from this. matt guidera has not yet filed an appeal. he had to so it due to missing taking a drug test. we'll find out how it plays out through the rest of the countdown as well. time for a very special announcement joining us on "nhra race day" presented by lucas oil set is the man that is lucas oil, forest lucas and his wife charlotte. i know you have great, exciting news for the fans and for those of us in television land. tell us about it, forest. >> we've been sponsoring the sportsman division for several years, and we just made an

agreement to sponsor for another five years. >> that affects our series. you will continue to be the presenting sponsor. >> i will continue to be the presenting sponsor on this show. and everything else we're doing will keep on going. it's a big thing for sportsman. sportsman is the backbone of the nhra really. all the pro guys get the attention, really there's thousands of sportsman guys. >> guys and gals. >> guys and gals. i have to tell you this is a number one fan, proponent of nhra. she gets you more fans than anybody out there. if i hadn't done it, i probably would have gotten divorced. >> thank you, charlotte. >> you're welcome. >> o behalf of everything. >> how about the year your son has been having especially at the lucas oil nationals in braine brainerd. >> we're fini finally getting i together. >> what was that like handing your son the trophy at the far

end of that race? >> dave, the thing up there is it being our own race, i got to hand out all the trophies to everybody. and we're standing on one side of the road down there at the end, and the tv's on the other side. i didn't know who won. i'm standing there, and finally i yelled at the guys across the road because they had the tv blocked in. i said who won. oh, your son! >> he had a helmet on, too. you took a shot. >> i took a shot and i had a big sore spot here between hector and morgan, the head of the wally got crunched in really good on me there a couple of times. fantastic day. >> you know who else won that race? hector on the lucas boil and frank in funny car. thank you for all you do. we look forward to continuing a great relationship. forest lucas and charlotte lucas, how about that? great stuff. great stuff. when we come back, guess

♪ ♪ vo: geico powersports. we feel your passion.

last race in indianapolis, tensions ran high. >> say it to me. >> unfortunately for john i know what's going on. >> he was my friend. he ain't my friend no more. >> taking the nhra heat, and it was intense. who knows what will happen next. tony pedregon, one of the men in that far end competition in indianapolis is here ladies and gentlemen. how about it for tony pedregon. tony, as you can hear, there are still some lines drawn in the sand over what went down in indianapolis. without going back yet, how do we move forward? what's going on between you and john now? >> we're already here. i thought you wanted to talk about the weather. >> it's a beautiful day, by the way. >> we love these fans, and without them we don't have much of a sport. so i'm all for the passion that they have, the good letters, the bad letters, the controversy. in the end they're here and hey, i saw "sportscenter."

john needs that for sweat more than i need it for crying. we've earned -- >> move over here. >> if they only knew where i came from. hey, i was taught to fight bh i was younger. so this is a normal thing. i understand how it works. if i was in 20th place, nobody would have a problem with my opinion. hey, we're the guys on top. >> we've ever got proof. >> hey, john and i go back a long ways. believe or not, we have feelings for one another. we had adisagreement. i have disagreements with my wife once in a while. it doesn't last that long, but we're down the road and it's going to be a great race today and it's probably a good way to start the countdown. >> you came up here tony, i didn't know whether i should move away from you or move closer. i have to ask you, you took a little bit of heat this week says there's hip pockcy about the fact you won the championship in 2003 that maybe you should give back your

trophy. how do you feel about that? >> that's a matter of opinion. i think whit bazemore has spoken. that's a good thing. i was very limited to what i could say as a driver. i never made any of those decisions, so if whit wants to kault me a hypocrite, he needs to look in the mirror, too. there were issues about lane choices in other races. it's never going to be a perfect sport. i simply teped out and stuck my neck out like i've done a lot. i'm not aphrase to do that, because i think we saw one race and there were a lot of circumstances surrounding that and i know i'm not alone because we all saw it. that's what the big debate is. >> you said you know what goes on. what goes on? what went on? >> well, you guys have asked me up and down, and i really feel like john on this issue. i'll say this. in my career i was never asked to throw a race. i never threw a race. now, you take a look at pattern of my car. if you want to go back in time, so when i say i've got some

credibility, i've got some history, but these are questions that john force needs to ask. they've been presented to him. i saw him on "sportscenter" last night. i don't know that he answered the questions, so i'm going to do my little tap dance because i did agree with john that we want to get past this. i know you guys want a show, but we want to get on the track and have a race. >> speaking of dancing, it takes two to tango. with the other half of this confrontation, john force standing by with gary gerould. >> are you at peace with tony pedregon going into today's action? >> oh, yeah. i'm good. i want to keep my focus and get out there and do what we do, give the fans a great show. >> is it difficult to keep your focus in a lot of what is going on? >> they've had me screwed up so bad this week that i forgot why i came. the only guys that made me feel good all week is phillips going to beat up that other guy on the motorcycle. god bless him. no.

we're okay. just need to move on. there will be somebody else wanting to beat me up next week. i'm trying to figure out if jay hates me. a guy writes on espn.com some big story i don't get enough sex. i don't know where that come from. that's probably the only true thing i've heard lately, and he says that there was a big chance to build the sport and i threw it all away. hell, maybe i don't know what i'm saying. he interviewed me. i was told i couldn't run that race because it was illegal to do a match race with tony. you know what i'm talking about? i don't know what i'm talking about. i know when i get this that ford mustang for cast troll and everybody, auto club, i know what i'm doing and that's what i'm going to get back in the groove today and get back where i belong and get out of hollywood. >> all right. we got to go, john. have a good, safe day. >> love you, mike. love jay. >> jay is the "sportscenter"

announcer conducting that interview. that's what marcus smith put up. it's about the countdown to the championship, and you can see tony pedregon leads that countdown as positions 2 through 6 actually lost ground. as far as the bonus points go, hight and ashley picked up the most. they came up plus 4. time to ask about your favorite rivalry. fan question, where is an la from richmond. fire away. you had a great rivalry question. >> tony, what's your favorite nhra rivalry of all time? >> i can tell you which is the least faifrtvorite and it's proy this one i'm going through right now. going back to when i drove for john all those years, the late great al hoffman, there was a lot that went down. we should, we should. i better understand hoffman's position now than when i was a hired driver. when you're a driver you're limited. i think he was a great driver. i think that al was very courageous in being able to stand up.

it's tough to stand up to the guy on top, to the big corporations. al always did it. did he it then. he backed up what he said and what he did on the racetrack, and i thought it was a big rivalry back then and still is. >> good stuff. stick around a little. we'll catch up on the backside. "nhra race day" will step away for the moment. doug herbert is back in the crowd. crowd. we'll check in with stat

♪ ♪ vo: geico powersports. we feel your passion.

we're back here at

charlotte, north carolina, the heart of stock car country just across the street from lowe's motor speedway at zmax speedway. they also own a track in new hampshire at loudon. jimmie johnson racing for his fourth straight championship, and just like here in drag racing, it's the first race for the chase for the nascar cup. how about bob tasca announcing his extension coming back. that's good news for tony pedregon who is a good friend of his. is bringing back the national elapgsed time record and the bonus points that go along with it good for the sport? >> it's a great question. in the history of this sport, there's an incentive for teams when they're able to throw a big number out there. i concur it's a good thing. it's good to start here today. >> let's cue up stat guy now and talk more about this rivalry. >> over the last 24 events john force racing has had 96 opportunities to win races. they've won twice, but the

pedregon brothers have won three times more races with six and half the races 48 plus throw in two championships. i think i'm fueling the fire a little bit more. >> you think that's why? >> that's worth a little something. >> do you think that's perhaps why john is on edge a little bit? >> i can relate to john. we all have that problem with the sex. that i understood. the rest of the stuff. >> i ain't having no problem. >> not all of us. some of us. >> we have to look forward to a potential semifinal match-up. you and your brother cruz could race if you get that far today. what do you do? >> we've always been under scrutiny. we'll do the same thing that we did in brainerd. we'll back up what we say we do. we have to contend with all the other guys. they're tough to handle. we hope to get to the semifinal. >> what excites you about today? >> i've always wanted to say this, and if you tune in today they go four-wide to the stride.

>> should you lose first round, would you be interested in that? >> i wish they'd throw more money out there, but i can't turn these guys down. i have to roll up there. >> history is made here today, and all of these fans are ready for it. the countdown to the championship four-wide all goes down later today at >> if you only have one, don't even try. it's gonna take two, three, and maybe even four power plants to take home the prize here tonight. it's the king to the sport, and they're next.

hello, everybody, and welcome to the lucas oil pro pulling league. we bring you to the middle of the united states. it's henry, illinois. it's a big state fair that's going on here, but tonight, it's all about the tractor pull, and it will be the e3 spark plugs prairie state challenge, presented by k&n filters. hello, everybody. i'm ken stout, and if its horsepower you love, then don't touch that dial because the super mods are coming out. the multiengine trackers -- it's all about diversity. there's combinations there for everybody, but one common denominator is big-time horsepower. of course, the goal is to drag that heavy sled out there across the full pull mark. who knows where that might be? that will be determined by the officials after about five draggers, but one thing for sure -- we have a full field here tonight, and everybody's gunning for that

pro pulling league trophy. now, with more on tonight's event, let's go to my colleague, leslie mears. >> a full field, indeed, and a very diverse field, as well. this class -- pretty much anything goes. as long as you keep it at 7,700 pounds, you can put any combination of automotive, air trap, or industrial engines together. as long as you make the weight, you can pour that horsepower down the track. let's send it down to rob. >> tonight, we're gonna see the bad boys -- the lucas oil pro pulling league -- the super-modified tractors. we're talking about 8,000 horsepower. now that sounds all fine and dandy. you got to spend $100,000 to $150,000 just to get one of these bad boys. here tonight, we're starting to see the moisture come back up through the dirt. we're gonna be building some roads. it's cooling off here in beautiful henry, illinois. the stands are packed. it's time to go pulling. these tractors are certainly a fan favorite. they even enjoy watching them fire up these engines one at a time. it is quite a process. it's time now before we kick our first puller off to tell you about our rules of the pull.

here are our lucas oil rules of the pull. of course, our full pull mark will be set after five competitors have ran down the track. with the super-modified tractor class, you're looking at right around 7,700 pounds, and you can use any combination of turbine, automotive, or industrial engines, as long as you can keep it right around that 8,000 horsepower maximum. and, of course, run two safety hitches and sfi specified roll cages. >> thanks a lot, leslie. we'll get our first puller backed up and hooked to the sled. four spectacular-looking power plants for shawn swearingen and the joker. he typically had three on this tractor when he ran at the local level and even the national, but now with four, he has to run the smaller blower. >> only 871 superchargers when you've got four of those big, bad, heavies out there, and i'll tell you what -- he has been on fire. also got one of those brand-new

joe aider chassis for this 2008 season. >> man, he is flying! talk about some wheel speed! man, oh, man! well past the 300 foot mark, as well. man, oh, man. i didn't think he was gonna stop at all. >> stays on that right sideline. look at all that torque! it's just amazing! you see him turning those wheels, getting on the brakes a little bit as he's dragging it on out there. man, those four heavies just on fire! >> we'll go on board here. he starts off nice and straight. [ speaking indistinctly ] he doesn't touch the brake. unfortunately for him... here comes the red flag from john mears -- time to stop right there. when you go out that hard, that fast, they will change the sled, so they'll tighten this thing up, possibly put a little more weight in it, and the next competitors will have to work just a little harder. let's go back to rob. >> well, guys, my dark horse here tonight is a pretty easy decision for me. we sat down for a couple hours, trying to figure out who i was going to take. i'm gonna go with tim howell

from wilmington, ohio. he's driving one of the larry roberts r&l carriers entries. now, they brought three tractors here today. tim's in the double down. he's the only one left that's running, so all the chips are in on the double down. i'm going with tim howell. and the double down will run a little bit later. right now, we're taking a look at don nelson with the name here. he's out of cat springs, texas. >> one of our unique configurations, two 572 cubic-inch chevys with 1471 superchargers on them, and then that dt 466 that you hear whistling out there, with three of those big, bag turbos on it. man, look at him take off. >> the front end way up in the air. transferring a lot of weight... one of those chevys. he'll spend some money here tonight. and the distance -- 271.01. that is the new mark to beat as it stands right now. >> well, you can see he's got an awesome run going. those chevys are running clean back there. not a lot of extra fuel coming out the cylinders.

he's got the dt 466 to boost pressure up. it's rocking and rolling down the track. he's got plenty of frame flex and torque. front end carrying beautiful out there, and then it just goes kaput. it's all that action going on back there. i'm gonna say it's a rod, maybe a fuel line back there that's causing all that problem. >> yeah, you can see the bottom end of the motor came away, and then, of course, the blower belt came off. a lot of people think the blower belts come off first, but it's usually another problem inside of the engine that causes the blower belt to break, and that one definitely had a problem -- about $40,000 just like that down the drain. >> well done, nelson. what happened out there? it was a pretty big boom about mid-track. >> we had a great run going, and the clutch on the right motor must've been letting go, and the motor was really turning out rpm, and it just overrevved it and broke the belt and blew a rod out. >> what do you guys have to do to get that thing fixed? >> i'm not real sure. i haven't even seen it yet, but it won't be an easy fix. >> well, that's a pretty much

take-it-out, put-another-one-in type of fix. as we watch bill lieschner back up his three-turbine tracker, this one called the dirt challenger, and he actually has two of these things at the competition here tonight. >> we've got the dirt challenger -- over 8,500 horsepower on these three t64's, and then he's got the dirtslinger, which we know he's been out on the lucas oil pro pulling league circuit with forever. two-time champion with that vehicle running four ares-howard motors three. >> so two drastically different combinations. no doubt, i'm sure, as a young man, he watched what was all of our heroes and one...come out with the turbine-powered tractors and thought, 'hey, man, i got to take a shot at this thing." and they do get quiet. in fact, sometimes, they get quiet enough. you can hear the rear tires just churning back there.

278.71 -- an all right distance there, but not what he was looking for here tonight. he will take the lead, though. >> the flutter of the fender wells on takeoff, there, the extra fuel being burnt, hid in the rev limited on the center motor. turning too many rpm's there, shutting it off for a second, and then bringing it back to life as it powers its way down the track. >> it was a spectacular-looking run, the front end up there very nicely. it looks like it was transferring weight. for whatever reason, though, just didn't get quite as much as he would've hoped for here tonight. let's go to rob. >> well, bill, you brought two tractors here today. is there anything you learned from the turbine tractor here before you were bringing the next one out? >> yeah, we pulled here last night and i don't think this track's quite as good, but that first pass by the joker...make half a pass. i think they made the sled pretty heavy. i got a center motor and it's kind of dirty, sucks a little dirt in. you see that popping. that really hurts. lucas oil's got a lot of people on board, and there's a good show here, and it's just a fantastic circuit, and just love to do this, and got a lot of good friends that help us get down the track.

>> then he'll have a lot of friends who are gonna come out here in a moment and try to take that lead away, so stay with us.

>> the lucas oil pro pulling league is brought to you by... lucas oil products -- made in america, sold to the world... r+l carriers -- one call, one carrier... and by general tire. welcome back to henry, illinois, for the e3 spark plug prairie state challenge, presented by k&n filters. this is the lucas oil pro pulling league, and you're watching the super-modified tractors, the multiengine competitors whose...spend so much time and effort, as does everybody, really, in this national touring series. tim howell, the double down, and if i'm not mistaken, this was mr. rob klepper's dark horse. >> the unique pick, since only two of those three engines out there are actually running so that tim howell and the double down can meet the horsepower requirements of the lucas oil pro pulling league. those horsepower requirements

stand at 8,600 maximum. he didn't want to go over that, and here we go -- he's off. oh, man, and he's on a ride! hang on, baby! that's like an 8-second ride right there, man. he's in the wrong business. he looked like a bull in this particular case. not what he wanted to do here, so a tough night for tim howell and the double down. >> kind of like he was on a pogo stick there on those rear tires, just bouncing, and a lot of drivers will try to drive through that rear bounce, and if you can get it going far enough down the track, sometimes you can get out of it, but sometimes, it just sticks with you like this, and he knows he's not gonna be able to come out of it, so he just backs out of the throttle there and shuts her down. >> once again, we'll go on board. look at that thing coming almost completely off the ground in the back, and look at the sled hopping up and down. tough night right there. that is definitely hard on the drive line. the predator is up next, driven by jamie austin, and again, we'll go back to the four automotive-style power plants.

he's backing up, just about hooked up to the sled, and once again, we'll check in with rob. >> well, guys, talking to a lot of drivers, the...and some of the ppl officials, this is really a driver's track here tonight. it's getting a little bit hard here in the super-mod class, and it's a driver's track, meaning that the guys with the piston engines -- they can ease their way in. they can work this track. they can make that road, but the guys with the turbines, when they lay it all on the line, that's all they got. when those tires start spinning, there's no stopping it, so it's a driver's track here tonight. gonna be interesting to see if the piston guys can hold on and beat those turbines. >> well, as you can see, those are the pinch-head-style engines. no...on that one. boy, all over the place, but trying to hang in there. 271.42 feet is the mark. >> and this track really punishing these drivers, and what rob's talking about there is actually walking it out --

not getting all the way into the throttle until you get a little further down the track, but the predator pours it on early, gets it going, has to hit the brakes and bring it back to center. lots of steering and lots of wobbling going on there for the predator. >> that is good for second place as it stands right now, but shawn swearingen is back with the joker. we saw him at the top of the show. he came out, went 355 feet, but since then, they changed the sled. of course, when they change the sled, everybody has to pull again, and for him, he was allowed to drop back in the field wherever he would like to, but now, he's come back out to try to make another run at it. >> and swearingen is gonna have a definite advantage over the others. he's already been down the track once. >> and oddly enough, that's almost exactly what he did in the first pull as the tractor went off to his left originally, but of course, went much further.

he will take the lead, though, at 296.96. >> a little extra fuel burning off earlier, but it cleans up. he drags it down the track to that left-hand side, brings it back with the breaker, tries to, and just doesn't have enough break over there. got too much horsepower pouring into the ground to bring it back. >> well, here comes one of the biggest characters in the business. of course, that's the son of brent nation, but l.d. nation is behind the wheel, and if you want to have a good time, just spend about five minutes with that guy. >> boy, he is a hoot, and, you know, this is another guy who's got a lot of driving experience, not only with the lucas oil pro pulling league in truck and tractor pulling, but this is a guy who also ran alcohol dragsters, so he's been down the track at over 260 miles an hour and then comes out here and pilots almost 8,600 horsepower on these three t64 turbines on his machine he calls the indian outlaw. it's just amazing.

you can see only three weights out there on the front -- 300 pounds out there on the nose. that's why he's getting such good lift. >> oh, and he's gonna get the lead by a half a foot! 296.96 was the previous leap. 296.41 is just enough to take over the mark. >> and look at that -- a great launch down the center of the track. he doesn't have to do a lot of steering with his brakes until he gets down these towards the end. imagine, ken, what his distance would be if he wasn't heading towards that left sideline over there and didn't really have to get after those brakes. just amazing. >> well, we're sitting at the starting line. you guys had a pretty good pull, but talk about what happened at the starting line. >> yeah, i tell you what, there at the starting line, i tell you what -- i was nervous there 'cause when you get out there and you get your turn and you pack up, you want to make your pass on that. we started hydraulic and get a hard start. we just couldn't get that one started. [ speaking indistinctly ]

we got to go. well, i felt good. i was worried. >> 297.41 pretty good. it's a tough spot right now, but towards the end of the run, it seemed to dip to the left. >> yeah, it got going to the left a little bit there and i had to get on the brake, and i tell you what, there's a lot of good iron back there yet, so you know, nobody knows. i hope it holds out, but you never know in this game. >> when we come back, we're gonna put some of that iron up to the sled. stay with us.

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>> welcome back to henry, illinois, and the lucas oil pro pulling league with e3 spark plugs prairie state challenge presented by k&n filters. we are watching the super-modified tractors out here tonight. justin gallion is coming up next, and the tractor's called "lotta dirt." >> and you can see with only

three motors out there, he's got those big 1471 superchargers that he is allowed to run. interesting configuration here, how he has that injector hat mounted on the motor. as he takes off, a great shot. watch those red butterflies as they start to open up. full throttle here. all the fuel getting poured down into those cylinders. >> edmund, oklahoma, and the front of that one twisting and turning as he heads for the 300-foot mark. he'll land real short, though, at 264.7. >> and he gets off to a great start, walks it out of the hole, and then you see all that frame flex and that torque torn over to that right-hand side, just making him go up and down, and as he bounces, it's gonna really reduce his distance just like hitting the brakes would do. >> so a tough run there as we continue on in the supermodified category. next up will be bob jostock and wild child. >> and you can see these motors

sitting sideways, or outboard, and then they're hooked together, crank to crank, and then into a gearbox that goes down into the drive shaft, back into the rear end. just a little bit different way to set up your motors. >> of course...crank like that, if one of them goes dead, the other one's churn it into pieces. fortunately for him, that did not happen. 288.30 is a great effort, but not enough to take the lead. it is good enough for third place, though. >> he's got a nice, straight, narrow run going on and probably had his machine set up the best that he could, but here's the deal -- rob talked about it earlier. the track's getting a little bit harder, and it's harder to get that bite on those 30.5 tires back there. you see, it's churning up a lot of that dirt on top, but it's not really settling in and give them the lab that they need to push out that extra distance to exceed into the lead.

>> and bam, just like that, that e3 spark plug transfer box smacks the front of the sled. you can see all the blow-by coming out of the bottom of the power plants. man, those things were working hard. as we continue on, another spectacular-looking tractor, and that's what the fans love about these things. they pull out, they look great. of course, we saw this guy before. he was inside of the turbine-powered machine, now out here in the dirtslinger. bill lieschner, who has won so many championships in this category, with his tractor. >> and it's a unique configuration, as well. most of the other multiengine monsters are running hemis. bill lieschner prefers to run the ares motors. he also does something a little bit different. he has his motors set up crank to crank, but he also utilizes something called reverse rotation where you've got one set of motors spinning clockwise, one spinning counterclockwise, so on this particular run of this vehicle, you're not gonna see that frame flex. it's gonna give him a more straight and narrow, true run.

as you see, the whole front end lift off the ground. >> oh, and he's lost one of those motors right there. that right-front engine gave up on him, and it was a great go before. 238 will be the mark, but yeah, that's exactly right. with the counterrotating power plants, of course, it takes some of that torque out of that chassis. >> but you can see the blower belt goes down right there, the extra fuel being pushed out of that cylinder. that's what you're seeing the smoke coming out of that front right motor -- just pure, raw fuel. >> only one plate on the front of that, too, as he was trying to get it hooked up. stay with us. we'll have more super mods when we come back. when your engine's running clean... you feel it. ...and pennzoil motor oil actively cleans out

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we're in henry, illinois, with the lucas oil pro pulling league here at the e3 spark plug's prairie state challenge presented by k&n filters. right now, the man that's on top is l.d. nation and the indian outlaw with a mark of 297.41 feet. if you want to take the lead tonight, you've got to go just a little bit further. we saw bob jostock come out here. currently sitting in third place at 288.3, so terry should have some good information to work with. >> well, this brothers team definitely has a lot of good information, and terry kind of got an inside shot here at what's going on as he builds a lot of chassis for this particular class. >> on board the sled, he's digging hard. a good effort right here. oh, and terry will not have enough -- 289.1 feet is the mark for terry jostock. he does bump bob down one to take over third place, but he won't get the win here tonight.

>> those big 30.5's dancing on top of the dirt instead of those big, deep v's digging in and pushing that dirt in front of the pan back there. you can see this track really hardening up. a numbers game, maybe, tonight. >> as you quite imagine, there's a lot of things you have to have go right to get everything working on one of these tractors, pulling the safety belts down tight, just in case something were to go wrong. 8,000 horsepower up there. anything's possible. mr. twister. he is going for a ride. it pulled that motor down right at the very end, too. never really got that momentum going that he wanted to keep going, and that guy is cheering because he just won. that is l.d. nation. congratulations to him. we'll take another look at this run. >> well, you can see that front-left motor that they were working on, trying to slow down just a little bit could never get cleaned up.

up. not getting the 2,000 horsepower out of that motor that he needs to pour into the track in order to make it out there and try to be competitive tonight. >> and a tough ride for scott tedder, but this guy is very happy. >> l.d. nation, hey congratulations. what a run, man. you guys put on a pretty good show. nice job. >> yeah, i'll tell you what, now, when you get in a punch like that, i'll tell you what -- there's 15 of us, and any one of us could've won, and when you get a win like that, i tell you what, you got to celebrate. >> well, like you said, you were hanging out at the starting line, had hydraulic issues there, and then got that thing going, then it jerked to the left -- that was a pretty impressive run. >> yeah, i'll tell you what, now, i was scared that old heap of mine wasn't gonna get going. pretty soon, that thing -- he plugged it in the wrong hole and got it straightened out, got it started, good run -- happy. >> you been doing this for over 30 years. you got your son here, your grandson here. how special is it for you to get your second win here in the lucas oil pro pulling league tour? >> oh, it's really special anytime you can win with these guys. i tell you, everybody's got the

right stuff out here, and if you can come out and win, i tell you what -- it's just wonderful. i mean, you just celebrate for a long time, 'cause it may be a long time before you get another win, and i got to thank all the sponsors. especially, i got to thank lucas oil. if it wasn't for the lucas oil racing team, we all wouldn't be here having this fun. i really appreciate lucas. >> go have some fun. >> yeah, thank you. >> good time there as we take a look at the e3 spark plugs lucas oil pro pulling league point in the supermodified tractor. it is the joker on top by just 2. >> of course, it's the indian outlaw driven by l.d. nation that closed the... tonight, he's also our general tire hook up of the day. >> a straight and narrow run for a crazy character back there. l.d. nation getting it down with only 300 pounds in the front, lifting it right off the ground. >> and our jim beam fan favorite -- that goes to the driver of the texas bullwhip, don nelson. >> unfortunately, some damage back there, but they, those are the things that these fans love to see out of these tractor pulls. >> big horsepower, big